Looking to upgrade video card....

[Shogen 325]

Started having some issues with my gpu recently... Randomly lock-ups, reboots, and BSODS.... tried everything under the sun software wise... Tried cleaning, adding more cooling, different slots to no avail...

Current PC:

Intel i7- 3930K

16GB ram

Intel 160GB ssd

Nvidia GTX 285

I think it's been about 3yrs since I had the card and think it's time to upgrade...

Haven't been in the market for a long time and see soooo many changes.... I need a 1 card solution.... Preferably more than 1GB memory... Brand doesn't matter... Nvidia or ATI.... What should I look into? What are you guys using? Some help would be great... Budget is EXTREME top end being $525......

Thanks for any help....

- Sho

Just for those who want to know.. This will be a gift from a special someone... lol .... So my unemployment doesn't affect it... Yay for great women!!!

[shizzzon 461]

Well, i would like to know how you have officially narrowed it down to your video card?

And when i say that, i mean your HARDWARE.

In my experience, i had been a long-term Nvidia fan and before i built my next PC, i started to notice Nvidia's drivers were not playing nice with update and update, etc... Resulting in what you are describing. I had to go way back, possibly 6months prior and use those drivers to just have a normal PC usage environment...

It was bullcrap..

Anyways, fast forward..

I then went with ATI with the new PC because at this time and STILL today, ATI is not falling off the map in performance like they used to 10yrs ago.

Upon switching to ATI, i immediately noticed just ATI's driver support is stellar compared to Nvidia, INCLUDING a recent Nvidia card i purchased just several months ago, 560Ti i believe is the model line.

Still today, ATI's Windows experience is great.

Nvidia just doesn't give the user enough video tweaking when using, let's say a projector and multi monitor support, etc...

The reason why i am telling you all this is because i want you to make 100000000000000000000000% sure you do not have driver issues and one set of drivers isnt enough to confirm that theory!

There are TWO different sources to get drivers for your video card.

Nvidia releases a new update every 47 seconds it seems, so this is what i would do..

Go to your video card's brand name's website and download their driver package for your video card.

Next, uninstall your display adapter in device manager and restart in SAFE MODE.

Install the driver package you downloaded, then restart and boot normally.

I do not and suggest not to update drivers all the time unless you are trying to fix an issue specifically outlines in the driver's update list.

This is with anything.

In this situation, i would not trust direct Nvidia drivers for this scenario, but stick with your brand's own drivers.

IF that fails, i would be looking to then try Nvidia's drivers but from several months ago, nothing recent!

[Shogen 325]

So great advice... I actually went as far as going with Xtreme tweakforce drivers ... The farthest I went back was December drivers since I knew for sure I had no issues with them .... I always uninstall the drivers/software then run cc cleaner... then reboot to safe mode... Then install.... Its been my practice for over 10yrs...

I had a card do the same thing to be years ago due to an overheating issue which I was too inexperienced to notice at the time...

I have been leaning more towards ATI since the hardware is somewhat ahead of Nvidia in terms of performance... I'd also be editing so extra vram is helpful.... I just haven't figured out who is totally on top, but I think the QC hardware wise on the newer cards goes to ATI based off reviews and test bench charts... They are only slightly lower in some games compared to Nvidia but not enough to matter to me... Plus I have a decent machine to handle more load ..

[shizzzon 461]

Well then, you know as well as i do, who's ahead is pointless unless you are willing to buy THE BEST card made by either manufacturer...

So, $525 isn't the best, hehe, let's drop that there.

Maybe you can actually educate me here since you mentioned something i was curious about.

I do a LOT of video editing and photoshop use.

What dictates how much Vram one wantsneeds for this type of usage?

The next best question is, i like to play a game every once in a while, but quality isn't important to me.

I'm fine with 1024x768 personally even on 1050p screens so in that aspect, can a workstation card actually be better or is a desktop card still better for workstation software?

back on your topic too-

What error codes do you ever get?

You do not need to tell me them if you know the solution to why you are getting them...

You mentioned overheating.. What is the core temp readings?

Anything 180F or higher is typical for PC malfunctions to start occurring.

[Shogen 325]

Yea I know I'm not looking for the BEST... I'm looking for the best for my budget... And $525 gets you alot of card...

Nothing specifically "dictates" how much you want/need.... Different types of editing use more ram than other... Higher res, color quality, editing tool being used, size of area being edited, for both video/photos.... I have been getting slight hang ups on the stamp tool if I grab too large a portion in PS ... But when I say slight I mean, to everyone else they don't see it just me... lmao.... So really I'm being picky about it...

As far as workstation vs desktop graphics cards I couldn't tell you... Money wise for someone who doesn't have a business with alot of budget then desktop is always the best solution... Workstation graphics cards always had more memory and higher clocks... but didn't always work well for most people because of price.. I just clicked over to Newegg as I was typing this and saw a $4k "professional graphics card" with 6GB ram .... and they aren't always compatible with standard motherboards... So I've yet to know first-hand....

On topic: display nvdspl. blah blah blah.... with random matrix code .... or display driver not working... it happens during anything...

With the overheating, typically anything over 80C + is a bad sign... with that previous card, a friend of mine who was more versed showed me the melted thermal paste running on the card... as if it had gone past the point of what was normal.. that in turn cause a heatsink to lose 100% contact and obviously caused a very slow death... but when it died it was like a snowy hell on my first ever 1920x1200 monitor back about 8yrs ago

Also, I am not experiencing the overheating on this setup.... I rarely hit 70C ... But I think memory/volt regs/caps could be going bad or something else awry on here...

Edited August 10, 2012 by Shogen

[shizzzon 461]

That's interesting then!

You are implying that you are only getting errors related to file(s).

No random STOP error code with no file association?

File association is good!

I would download Windows debugger tool that analyzes .dmp files.

Load up some dump files the computer has collected so it can tell you exactly the ending result concluding to a crash and it's findings as to what is causing the problem.

Unless you haveare OCing your video card, i would think the hardware would be the last thing to happen since it's been working fine for years.

[Shogen 325]

Well, one other thing I did was run one of the benches I used to frequently use... And it bowed out pretty quick but the log file for it never created and I tried several times... usually I would just get a "passed" or "complete" ... I guess I could check dmp files but I don't know if that will be it but worth a shot.... And I don't OC anything on the machine.... I don't find it beneficial to my budget

[shizzzon 461]

OCing a video card, pci slot, etc... is never worth it, btw.

Crashing gpu tests isn't good!

Do you have any other older version nvidia card lying around?

I wish i could get you to do free tests before jumping the gun on changing cards permanently.

Sure, i'm assuming a new card would solve issue to but that's more than just changing hardware in terms of variables at play.

[Shogen 325]

OCing a video card, pci slot, etc... is never worth it, btw.

Crashing gpu tests isn't good!

Do you have any other older version nvidia card lying around?

I wish i could get you to do free tests before jumping the gun on changing cards permanently.

Sure, i'm assuming a new card would solve issue to but that's more than just changing hardware in terms of variables at play.

Unfortunately no other Nvidia cards are .... What other tests did you have in mind? Link the ones you're talking about pls... I don't WANT to have to buy a new card even if it is a "gift" from the lady... But I think that will solve the issues as well..

[shizzzon 461]

Have you ever tried running your computer in safe mode ONLY?

Try running in safe mode with networking and let it run like that for a long time.

I'm assuming this video issue happens everyday?

You would know if running in safe mode after a certain amount of time resolves the issue.

If your computer is error free when doing this, it's definitely driver errors.

[Shogen 325]

Nah not "everyday".... I couldn't deal with it if it was... But its pretty consistent ... Like some days it won't happen... Some days it'll be after a while of using PS or LR .... Or after gaming ... Then later on during browsing internets or watching a movie.... It's been very random .. which is why I haven't been able to make a 100% on what is causing the video problems and I'm assuming is possible VRAM or something small causing a bigger issue since I can't fix that easily